Water In A Dusty Street
We had planned to sleep in as late as possible today. One, because it was our day off of work. And two, because if we slept through breakfast we would only have to spend money on two meals for the day. But to our surprise we were all awake and out of bed by 9am. We figured we would start the day by bucket showering in our tarp shower. Even though there was almost no wind and the sun was shining the shower was cold and more of a chore than the relaxing luxury we are used to. After the showers we started doing our laundry by hand on a cement block. We have watched many families do this before but we definitely were shocked at how tiring it is. It is nothing like just throwing our clothes into a washing machine. There was a lot of thought that needed to be put into it. What will take the longest to dry? What clothes do we want to wear tomorrow? Do we have enough room to hang it all to make sure it dries in time?
After spending a good portion of our day washing clothes that we knew would just get dirty at work tomorrow, we figured we deserved a short break. But living like this there is no time for a break – we needed to figure out lunch with the little money we had. Thankfully generous neighbours helped us out once again and gave us a delicious lunch. After lunch we had the option of washing a truck and walking a dog for an extra sixty pesos. Normally we wouldn’t work on our day off for such a small amount of money but today that money meant more food, so we took the work happily.
After work we went straight out to buy dinner and collected firewood the whole way home by instinct now. On the way home Shayna found a ten peso coin (about 80 cents Canadian) on the ground. Normally we would not have thought much of it and maybe spent it on some chocolate we thought we needed to have. But instead the first thing she thought of was that it would be enough for a jug of clean drinking water. This is how the shack week is changing us – where as once we would have thought of our own selfish wants, we have now started to shift our priorities. Just like our neighbours here in Mexico we have learned how to be resourceful and how to place the needs of our group above our previous consumeristic, individualistic mindsets. Shayna could have quietly picked up that coin and treated herself to M&M’s. But instead she thought of how this money could benefit the group – she had found water in the dusty street.
